The much discussed NHL news this week were the trades. You had the Seth Jones for Ryan Johansen swap and the Kings bolstering their playoff roster acquiring Vincent Lecavalier and Luke Schenn for a pick and Jordan Weal from the Flyers. You also had the pickup of Mike Richards by the Washington Capitals. Emerson Etem was also traded to his 3rd NHL team in his short career. Etem was one of the highest California born and raised players ever selected but has struggled to find his game in the NHL.
Johansen scored on his first shot as a Predator so it’s already working for them. I’d imagine he’ll be a consistent 30 goal scorer for them. A team that desperately needs a goal scorer. In fact, him and Filip Forsberg should make a nice scoring duo for a long time. Even if Seth Jones doesn’t pan out for the Blue Jackets, they still needed to make the trade. Johansen seemingly gave up in Columbus so a change of scenery was needed. It’s unlikely he was going to turn it around there. Seth Jones hasn’t reached his potential yet. He’s playing about 19 minutes a game for the Predators which isn’t bad but he needs to be playing around 25 a night. That wasn’t going to happen on a stacked defensive unit in Nashville. The more he plays, the better he will become. This was a great trade by both teams. It should work out for both of them in the long run.
The Flyers shed Lecavalier and Schenn for salary cap reasons. Lecavalier is retiring at the end of the year anyway. But the Kings could use another veteran guy on their team for another playoff run. The wildcard in this trade is Jordan Weal. Weal was named MVP of the AHL playoffs in 2015. He’s also regarded as an elite prospect. But I’m not sure I buy that. Elite prospects usually don’t take until they are 23 to finally play in the NHL. It’ll be interesting to see if anything becomes of him.

Things I like

1. We have a couple of notable achievements in the world of scoring goals. Jarome Iginla just notched his 600. While Alex Ovechkin just recorded his 500. I still question why Iginlia is on the Avalanche but kudos for him for sticking it out. He’s still pretty productive at this point in his career but he does have the highest minus on the team. Yikes. With their recent winning streak the Avalanche are in play for the 5th and final playoff spot in the tough central division. I don’t see them getting any higher than that though. As for Ovechkin, what’s there to say? He racked up a lot of goals this week including a coast to coast overtime winner after some great Holtby saves. A clip of the video is below He’s probably one of the best pure goal scorer ever. Pavel Bure, Mario Lemieux and Mike Bossy were the only players to score at a higher goals per game average than Ovechkin. He’d have to play about 9 more seasons to break Gretzky’s record but it is remotely possible. But I will say if he doesn’t do it, it’s unlikely anyone will break the record.

2. Joe Thornton has been many things over his career, some of them not always good. But you can add motivator and coach to that list now. In the final seconds of the Sharks loss to the Red Wings, Thornton started pummeling Luke Glendening. Thornton received a double minor for roughing and a game misconduct. Some of it was from frustration the other was to send a message. Message received. The Sharks ended up creaming the Maple Leafs 7-0 in their very next game. It’ll be interesting to see if that momentum carries over to the Flames game on Monday.

Things I don’t

1. The Edmonton Oilers are a talented team and really fun to watch. But they are young. Really really young. And with youth comes growing pains. And sometimes you just aren’t lucky. The Oilers took a 2-0 lead into the 3rd and then, well, things just went bad. Below are the three own goal the Oilers made. None of them were really gaffes on their part, they just ended up being deflected in. Twice off the stick and once off the skate. It happens.

2. The Penguins and Blackhawks had their double dip where the Blackhawks won both games. In the midst of Game 2 was the worst powerplay I’ve every seen in existence. I’ve never seen a team spend more time in their own zone then in the opposing teams. But that’s what the Penguins did. It looked more like a powerplay for the Blackhawks. I think they spent a grand total of 15 seconds in the Blackhawks zone. Just sad. Kudos to the Blackhawks penalty kill. Artemi Panarin had four goals in the two games for the Blackhawks.

Fights of the Week

Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.
Roman Polak vs Josh Manson
This was a weird fight.

Mike Weber vs Chris Thorburn
What a knockout

Goat of the Week

Fredrik Claesson – Ottawa Senators
Rookie mistake by Claesson who was pressured by the boards in his own end and just passed it right up the middle to a waiting Vincet Trocheck. Turned out to be an important goal in a 3-2 Panthers win.

Stat Line of the Week

1/10/16 Buffalo 4 vs. Winnipeg 2

Skater

TOI

G

A

+/-

SOG

Shifts

S. Reinhart

18:40

3

0

2

5

19

Reinhart was the 2nd overall pick in 2014 but hasn’t quite lived up to expectations. He did record his first hat trick against the Jets though. The last one was an empty net goal but it still counts. He only has 16 points so far so the Sabres are hoping this will help jump start him.

Numbers, Numbers

2 – Seconds between goals by the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild but one was an empty net goal so it’s not as impressive as it seems
3000 – Franchise goals for the Boston Bruins, that’s a lot of goals
12 – Wins for the Florida Panthers, they just keep wining
43 – NHL players to score 500 goals
4 – or possibly 3 teeth lost by Daniel Sedin against the Phoenix Coyotes, he came back and scored a goal later

The much discussed NHL news this week were the trades. You had the Seth Jones for Ryan Johansen swap and the Kings bolstering their playoff roster acquiring Vincent Lecavalier and Luke Schenn for a pick and Jordan Weal from the Flyers. You also had the pickup of Mike Richards...

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